On Yoga and Oatmeal

I’m going to be straight with you (again), but this time about something a little more serious than food (I know; how dare I do that!).

The thing is, I haven’t felt like myself for the past month or so. I’ve been a big ball of anxiety and nerves and stress. I feel like I haven’t properly b r e a t h e d in weeks and weeks. I know I haven’t been eating as well as I should, and I also haven’t found – or made – time to exercise. So this stress has taken its toll physically as well as mentally – I’m getting sharp, piercing pains in one tiny spot of my back when I bend over; my neck crackles (crackles!!) when I move it, and I feel tired fairly often. It’s no good.

So this morning I got up and put a pot of oatmeal on the stove, mixed with a diced apple and lots of yummy spices. Then I transferred it to the oven to make my first-ever baked oatmeal. And while it was baking, filling my apartment with warm, homey smells, I dug out my yoga mat, the yoga mat I purchased with a CSN store gift certificate a few months back but have only used once since then.

I rolled out my mat on the floor in front of the sliding glass doors in my living room. And then I dug deep into the dusty corners of my overtaxed brainbox and tried to remember how my yoga teacher led us through our Ashtanga practice during spring term of my senior year at Carleton, when I met yoga and fell in love only to grow apart after graduating.

And so I stretched and I warrior posed and I tried my darndest to rid my mind of all the junk that’s been bummin’ me out lately. I dutifully breathed in and out, deeply, five times during every downward facing dog. With each breath, I tried to let go of something.

Breathe in – looming work deadlines! - breathe out - goodbye, looming work deadlines!

Breathe in – blog blog blog blog blog! - breathe out - goodbye, constant need to write blog posts in my head!

Breathe in – so many Christmas presents to knit, so little time! - breathe out - goodbye, knitting frenzy!

Breathe in – why is the “Maint Needed” light on in in my car?! - breathe out - goodbye, worry that could be alleviated if I’d just call the car shop!

Breathe in – crap, I really should start on all those foods I wanted to make for MoFo! - breathe out - goodbye, stupid desire to overachieve!

And I tried. I really tried. I held my poses and I tried to focus on my breathing, but I couldn’t let go; my mind kept working working working thinking thinking writing writing writing. At one point, I even yelled aloud: “Shut up, Kelly!” Good thing my roommate’s not here at the moment. But it wasn’t until I was in the middle of one of my favorite simple seated poses* that I gained a brief, blissful, fleeting moment of relief. For one moment, the thoughts in my head faded. I heard nothing but footsteps from the people upstairs and a car driving by outside. And it was wonderful.

All too quickly, though, my thoughts came flooding back, reminding me about all the crafts I want to do and the foods I want to make. But it’s okay. My downward-facing dog might’ve been more like a downward facing humpbacked whale, and my joints might’ve creaked as if I were a 95-year-old lady instead of a 23-year-old youngling, but it was wonderful. And it taught me a lesson I refuse to forget: I cannot ignore myself. No matter how stressful things get, I need to make time to b r e a t h e, to center myself and to let go of all the stress, even if only for a minute. Fifty years from now, will I care what I posted about during day 20 of Vegan MoFo? Probably not. But I will care about how I felt during that time in my life; if I was happy and relaxed or constantly anxious and worry-filled. So I resolve to incorporate more yoga into my life, to make time to work out, and to b r e a t h e.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got  to eat breakfast, because that baked oatmeal won’t eat itself. And then I’ve got to take a short trip into work, because those revisions won’t make themselves.

Up next on my to-do list...

However, I promise to take a few deep breaths in the middle of it all.

How do you calm yourself down when things get crazy?

* I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s number 25 here.

Taste of the Tropics Breakfast Sundae

The Breakfast Sundae lovin’ continues! I made this baby a couple of weekends ago, and – dare I say it? – it might’ve been better than the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Breakfast Sundae I made for Katie‘s contest. Less flashy, perhaps, but wonderful in its own way. This sundae features mango, coconut, and a hint of nutmeg – a sweet, tropical blend that makes me want to take to the seas, find an island, and call it my own.

Unassuming, yet delicious.

Taste of the Tropics Oatmeal Sundae
Ingredients:
Breakfast grain of your choice (I used a mix of oatmeal and steel cut oats)
Liquid of your choice (I used almond milk + water)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Pinch nutmeg
1 mango, diced
Coconut flakes to taste

Cook your grain of choice to your personal specifications, adding the vanilla and nutmeg as it cooks. After it’s cooked and cooled a bit, mix in half the mango and coconut flakes. If you have a Magic Bullet or the like, feel free to blend up your oatmeal with a little more liquid for maximum creaminess. Mix in the rest of the mango, top the whole mess with coconut, and prepare for your tastebuds to be taken to the tropics!

Sundae Oaty Sundae

(Better than a bloody Sunday, eh?)

In case you’ve been living under a blog-free rock for the past couple of weeks, you probably know that the Queen of All Things Oatmeal is hosting a Magic Bullet giveaway. Unlike many giveaways that simply require entrants to leave a comment for a chance to win, Katie’s weeding out the passive contest-enterers from those who are more committed to the cause of Winning Free Stuff – this time, hopeful participants need to make a Breakfast Sundae for a chance at winning. Having been a lucky winner of one of Katie’s past giveaways, maybe it’s a little selfish of me to enter this one, but hey – a Magic Bullet would make a fetching addition to my countertop.

So – in the spirit of all things oaty and delicious, I decided to make myself a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Breakfast Sundae this past, um, Sunday. I followed Katie’s basic recipe pretty much to a letter, including blending it up in a Magic Bullet. But wait! It’s not mine – it’s my roommate’s, and my experiences borrowing her Bullet have only increased my intense covetousness for one of my own. After all, sad as it is, she won’t be my roommate forever, and a girl’s gotta build up her own set of kitchen accoutrements, right? Anyway – the Bullet whipped my oatmeal to new heights of creamy deliciousness, and then I upped the ante by pouring some extra-liquidy chocolate butter over the top. Served up in a ceramic sundae bowl I painted recently, this treat certainly looked more like a dessert than a breakfast!

It seriously bothers me that the coffee cup isn't more to the left.

Chocolaty and decadent, this breakfast was almost *too* rich for me – in my dotage, I’ve become much more sensitive to super-sugary food. But as a one-in-a-while breakfast treat, I think I can handle it! And I bet this could be a real game-changer for anyone who’s traditionally ambivalent towards oatmeal.

And here’s one more picture for the road – check out the chocolate butter action!

Oh, my.

Thanks for hosting this giveaway, Katie!

Festive Holiday Oats

Confession time – I’ve been eating quick oats lately. The kind of oats that come in a cylinder and take all of two minutes to nuke in the microwave. They’re basically the weakling runts of the oat world, with steel-cut oats and oat groats being the powerhouses that pack a fantastic nutritional punch. And even though I do have a bag of steel-cut oats in my [mostly bare] cupboard, I’ve been grabbing the quick oats when I feel like being grainy for breakfast.

I think I have an excuse, though. My mom and I bought them a couple of weeks ago when she was here helping me move into my apartment; we were staying in an extended stay hotel with a kitchenette, and we thought it’d be prudent to invest in some breakfast foods. Quick oats were the perfect solution; we’d get up in the morning, make oatmeal, and then head out for a day of furniture-shopping and bed-putting-together. After she left, I still had 3/4 of a container of quick oats, so that’s been my fall-back option when I want a quick breakfast. Since I’m not really willing to expend 20 minutes making steel-cut oats in the morning before work, I appreciate the minimal time investment.

I still feel a little guilty, though.

But a few days ago, I discovered a way to dress up my oats for the holidays, and ever since, I’ve ben unabashedly unashamed of my breakfast. It’s so simple, too. I’ve always been a fan of making oats with soy or almond milk, since I think watery oats are pretty much the most disgusting thing ever. They taste thin and generally disgusting, in my opinion. But if you make oatmeal with milk, it instantly turns into a delicious, creamy breakfast, even if you don’t have an immersion blender for that added touch of creaminess (I don’t have one of my own at my apartment, boo). So I’ve always been a soymilk and oatmeal fan.

The other day, though, I decided to add some of Silk’s seasonal Pumpkin Spice flavor to my oats. I couldn’t decide if I was wasting the precious drink by putting it in oatmeal, but I decided to give it a shot. And, oh, am I glad I did.

Festively delicious.

The result is a creamy, subtly flavorful oatmeal that requires little to no additional sweeteners. It’s seriously amazing, especially with an extra dash of cinnamon on top. I am so very glad I decided to give this a try.

I’m already thinking of what else I could do with this discovery. Chocolate Peppermint Stick Oatmeal, using WestSoy’s amazing holiday beverage? Nog Oats spiced with nutmeg?! What do you think – any great oaty ideas?